My ph keeps going up?

[RemeberMe]

I thought ph only needed to be ajusted about once a day but mine goes up half point every hour. By morning it could be reading over 8! The water ph is 8 to start with, should I adjust it then add the nutes? Also, I am using lemon juice to adjust, is that getting used by the plants and going away in the water?

 

[Weedler]

If your only running plain tap water no nutrients and adding PH down then PH will rise because there is no buffer to keep it at 5.8

You need to really invest in some PH Down bro... If you miss the mark say hit 4.8 you can pour some out add tap water to get it back to 5.8 make sure you mix your "top off reservoir water" outside the reservoir so you can insure a 5.8 PH before adding. Then I use a Solo cup or shot glass to check PH or reservoir and add a few ML at a time until it reaches 5.8

What nutrients are you using lets get specific and size of your reservoir etc, PPM's if you have them

 

[RemeberMe]

what do you mean by just using ph down it will rise due to no buffer?

I tried both AN sensi grow (a/b) and gh floragrow (all 3), both do the same. I'm waiting on my tds meter (this week). I'll try the ph down buffer instead of lemon juice. 5 gal buckets with 2 gals liquid no res. the plants are only a foot high ww and xj13.

 

[Weedler]

If your using 5GA buckets you can probably get 3GA in the bucket depending upon your net pot but I was able to get 3GA in mine.

If there are no nutrients in the reservoir the PH will rise. Mine still rises with a fresh batch of nutes... I'll PH to 5.8 wake up and it will be 6.5 so I PH to 5.8 again then it will be 5.3 the next day and then I just let it bounce back & forth daily between 5.8 - 6.2

Save your money & get a Quart of PH down and a pint of PH up just in case.

 

[paxneotech]

1st off, you adjust your ph value of water before you add nutriens. Then you adjust it again, if necessary (there are product out there that are labeled "Ph perfect" so they dont "jump" (to much To keep MY ph level at point, I use this 2 products, for hydro as well as coco (didnt try it in soil, but it should work)

GH(E) Products;
Ph Down / Ph buffer An Organically buffered solution
Mineral Magic

Happy grow!

 

[BeaverHuntr]

I got lucky with my PH I use GH nutes and the FLoralicious Plus and the Floralicious Plus makes my water a even 5.7-5.8 during Veg. Now in flower my PH hits 5.5 with a new res change I barely tweak my PH or have had PH issues ..

 

[RemeberMe]

OK, so it does bounce around. I'll adjust water first using a PH down (which I actually do own, I just didn't want to use it because it's acid but I have gloves). Can't wait to get the meters (currently using drop ph tests and no ppm meter). Thanks Weedler and Pax!

 

[RemeberMe]

Beaver, yea, I'm stuck with 8+ ph tap water.

 

[BeaverHuntr]

Have you tried to calibrate your PH meter? Try one reservoir with R/O water, you letting your tap water sit out overnight before using it?

 

[RemeberMe]

no meter yet, using liquid ph tester so it's accurate.

 

[Weedler]

1st off, you adjust your ph value of water before you add nutriens. Then you adjust it again, if necessary (there are product out there that are labeled "Ph perfect" so they dont "jump" (to much To keep MY ph level at point, I use this 2 products, for hydro as well as coco (didnt try it in soil, but it should work)

GH(E) Products;
Ph Down / Ph buffer An Organically buffered solution
Mineral Magic

Happy grow!

How do you like the mineral magic? How stable does it keep the PH? I'd live to avoid the large swing after the 1st day.

 

[Weedler]

The acid is not great for your hands but it will not hurt you that much just wash it off I rarely use gloves probably stupid but my hands are still here after 6 years lol

 

[RemeberMe]

I got a drop of it on the cement and it started foaming! Amazing you don't get bad burns from it.

 

[BeaverHuntr]

It cant be much stronger than citric acid because dont they say to use lime juice or some shit as a natural PH Down

 

[Weedler]

Yes, that is what he has been using...

 

[RemeberMe]

It is WAY stronger than citric acid.

 

[FeFiFoFUM]

1st off, you adjust your ph value of water before you add nutriens. Then you adjust it again, if necessary (there are product out there that are labeled "Ph perfect" so they dont "jump" (to much To keep MY ph level at point, I use this 2 products, for hydro as well as coco (didnt try it in soil, but it should work)

GH(E) Products;
Ph Down / Ph buffer An Organically buffered solution
Mineral Magic

Happy grow!

Since the nutes have ph buffers in them, why would you adjust the PH both before and after adding nutes? I personally add nutes, then wait and check ph the next morning, then adjust if necessary.

 

[RemeberMe]

If the nutrients have the ph adjustment in them as the plant uses up the nutrients the water will go back to the ph it was before adding the nutrients. If you adjust the water first, then the water should stay good even with no nutes. Seems to make the most sense to do it this way.

 

[FeFiFoFUM]

If the nutrients have the ph adjustment in them as the plant uses up the nutrients the water will go back to the ph it was before adding the nutrients. If you adjust the water first, then the water should stay good even with no nutes. Seems to make the most sense to do it this way.

I have learned to allow the ph to slowly rise to around 6.3 before adjusting it back down, usually thats every two days. I believe the logic behind this is that diffrent elements are more easily available at diff ph levels, so to ensure propper uptake of nutes you allowed this drift.

I once Phed my water to 5.5 and then added nutes, 24 hours later my ph was at 4.6

 

[RemeberMe]

I am seeing that too. Even after adjusting the water the ph is still varying. Weird. This makes it a pain in the @$$. Might be the temperature? I noticed one ph meter said that it adjust it's calibration per temperature. I think it was just a cheap one so not sure if this is normal. I'm using the drops anyway, so who knows what's going on there per temp. Plant might be eating the organics of the nutes in varying amounts causing this fluctuation. Or maybe ... Ah nutes!